The 51-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean actor ditches the funnies and gets super serious...and super terrifying and creepy in the new drama (that's right) film Black Mass, which sees him playing famed Boston mobster Whitey Bulger.

As seen in a trailer, posted on iTunes and other outlets on Thursday, he is practically unrecognizable. Gone are Depp's heartthrob looks—his character is balding and menacing, which pairs well with his chilling, evil laugh.

The actor had debuted his shocking movie look last summer, when he was photographed in his bald wig and makeup, kissing then-fiancée, now wife Amber Heard on the set of the movie.

The movie is based on a true story. The real Whitey, an Irish-American who was born James Bulger, ran the Winter Hill crime gang in South Boston in the '70s and '80s. He collaborated with a corrupt FBI agent who provided him with information about the Italian-American mafia. In the Black Mass trailer, the character is dubbed "one of the most notorious gangsters in U.S. history."

The FBI captured Whitey in his home in Santa Monica, California in 2011 after a 26-year manhunt. In 2013, at age 84, a federal judge sentenced him to life in prison for a series of crimes, including 11 murders. In the trailer, Depp's character appears to show one man no mercy.

FBI via Getty Images/YouTube

"He's a fascinating character," Depp told Collider last year. "It's not like anything I've done before, on that level. I'm very excited to slide into that skin for a little bit."

Fellow hottie Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Whitey's brother, William Bulger, also known as Billy, who served as President of the Massachusetts Senate. (And thankfully, he is very recognizable...although, woah, sideburns!)

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